Stone Butch Blues

The Definition In his novel “A Game of Thrones,” George R. R. Martin says that “Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you” (40). It is true that one should be appreciated, and it is acceptable for everyone to defend their ultimate identities. In the novel “Stone Butch Blues,” by Leslie Feinberg, many trials and hardships challenge Jess Goldberg, one who struggles to fight for acceptance and pursues her identity. When Jess is a child, she recognizes that the society is based on binary gender, a system consisting of only two distinct, natural and opposite genders. Growing up makes her know that recognition
Gloria, a co-worker at the printing shop, shows Jess an address of a gay bar in Niagara Falls. And from that moment, Jess starts to go to the bar regularly. It is all good and fun until the police comes and raids the bar. Jess and her friends are taken into custody. When she is raped by the cop, Jess starts to drift away in her own imagination. She chooses not to take part in the assault but to use her ability to protect herself from it. This proves to Jess that she is resilient to pursue her own identity. Further in the book, Jess becomes more independent when she works at the bindery. She has many concerns about the union and the working conditions of her friend. Duffy, a friend of Jess, helps her a lot. He tries to negotiate to improve the working conditions and wages, Duffy also starts the union to help the butches in the bindery as he “[kept] yelling at them that [you] were a human being, that you mattered, and it was like they weren’t listening” (93). Duffy supports Jess because he wants her to have the equality and the acceptance of society. Although Duffy knows that he could not change the way people think, but he does it just to help Jess. Together they demand the management to provide their needs by picketing during a strike. At that strike, Jan and three others are pulled over the barricades and thrown into the back of the police van. At that moment, Jess really begins to understand her true ability to resist. She asks Duffy and his men to help them out of the van. The people from the union start to surround the van and rock it. They demand the police that “‘Let them go! Let them go!’ An ashen-faced cop wearing gold bars whispered to the officers nearby. […] Just as fast as they’d been busted, the four were free.” At this moment, Jess comprehends the ability that she has, she can: asking people to unite together to achieve what they long for. This is important to Jess, because she